Tinubu’s campaign organization retracts its remarks about Buhari.
The Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation has stated that the media has misinterpreted comments made by a presidential aspirant, Bola Tinubu.
According to the PUNCH, Tinubu, while on a consultation visit to the delegates of the All Progressives Congress in Ogun State, recounted how he put the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, and others in the political spotlight in Nigeria.
Tinubu’s statement was described as “erroneous, misleading, and mischievous” in a statement signed by the campaign’s Director of Media and Communications, Bayo Onanuga, on Friday.
Onanuga stated that Tinubu’s comments were in the public domain and had been studied for years.
“The attention of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation has been drawn to the erroneous, misleading, and mischievous interpretation of his address in Abeokuta, capital of Ogun State on Thursday,” the statement said.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the leading presidential candidate in the All Progressives Congress upcoming primaries, addressed the party’s national delegates in Ogun State, with Governor Mr Dapo Abiodun in attendance.
“In an effort to persuade party delegates to vote for him in the primaries, he went down memory lane to provide specific examples of when he used his political clout and strategic skills to help individuals, groups, and tendencies in the party gain political power.” These factual references are already widely available. In the last eight years, they have been reported and analyzed in the media. As a result, they are public information.”
The campaign organization also stated that the opposition in the APC twisted the former governor of Lagos State’s comments to discredit their candidate.
It went on to say that Tinubu’s comment was not meant to be disrespectful to President Buhari, nor did he speak on tribal lines when he spoke in Abeokuta, referring to a WhatsApp message sent by Babachir Lawal.
“While we acknowledge that recent unexpected changes in the schedule and the heat generated by the event’s proximity may have caused some anxiety, this campaign organization believes that the main thrust of Asiwaju’s presentation was that his enormous contributions to the formation and electoral success of the All Progressives Congress should count in his favor as a true party man who desires to be the flag bearer.”
“There is also no doubt that the new conditions proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari for the consideration of a presidential candidate of the party required Asiwaju to work hard to persuade the delegates that he fits the bill.” The campaign was taken aback by how the opposition and Tinubu’s interpreters twisted his statement to give an interpretation Tinubu did not intend or say.
“At no point did Tinubu use an ethnic card or disparage any ethnic group.” That is uncharacteristic of him, as Engineer David Babachir Lawal attested in his viral WhatsApp statement. Tinubu’s speech in Abeokuta was not disrespectful to President Buhari, whom he holds in high regard and whose re-election campaign he chaired in 2019.
“Since the video of his Yoruba speech went viral on social media, various interpretations have been given to the speech, which was primarily about Governor Abiodun, who bowed to his leader after Tinubu’s brief speech.” The Tinubu campaign is unsurprised that the APC opposition has decided to turn and twist the statement. The former Lagos governor remains the man to beat at the party’s convention on Monday. We are not surprised that he is the target of well-planned and virulent attacks.
“The campaign organization hereby appeals to the media to refrain from sensationalizing issues of facts and to play its constitutional role of informing the electorate in order for them to make informed choices at the presidential primaries,” the statement concluded.
